Studies – Depression / Suicide / Mental Health

Abortion during the late teen and early adult years raises a woman’s risk of mental health problems and may be linked to almost one in ten cases of these women’s mental disorders, a new study says. A sociologist at CUA found that the risks of a mental disorder with abortion far exceeded the risks from involuntary loss of pregnancy. “Evidence from the United States confirms previous findings from Norway and New Zealand that, unlike other pregnancy outcomes, abortion is consistently associated with a moderate increase in risk of mental health disorders during late adolescence and early adulthood,” said the study’s abstract. The study, conducted by sociology professor Donald Paul Sullins of CUA, was published July 22, 2016 in the peer-reviewed Sage Open Medicine journal — http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2813546 After adjusting for demographic differences and other factors, the study found that abortion during these years elevated a woman’s risk of mental health disorder by 45%. “One-eleventh of the prevalence of mental disorders examined over the period were attributable to abortion,” the study’s abstract said. The study sought to examine any links between pregnancy outcomes like birth, abortion or miscarriage and mental health outcomes for U.S. women during the transition to adulthood. It drew on a national study of 8,005 women that surveyed them three times at average ages of 15, 22 and 28. Involuntary pregnancy loss was associated with a 24% elevated risk of mental disorder, while childbirth was “weakly associated” with reduced risk of mental disorder. Students for Life of America said the study showed the need for better data about the risks of abortion. “Abortion activists have repeatedly denounced attempts...

September is suicide prevention month, and grim though it may be, the disability, aging, and veterans communities are among the most likely populations to feel pressure to end their lives and, sadly, do so. In an effort to re-claim conversations about quality of life and to highlight the deficits in our nation’s current healthcare and long-term services systems that often foster feelings of desperation, we’ve written a Statement of Solidarity in Observance of Suicide Prevention Month, affirming the values of dignity, diversity, and full participation. Please review the Statement and consider signing on in solidarity as an organization and sending it out over your networks and to any chapters or affiliates you may have. To sign on, send us an email to [email protected] and note your organization’s name as you’d like it to appear, and the state in which you are located. We would prefer you send your sign-on as quickly as possible, but we will be receiving sign-ons until close of business, September 25, 2015. Please feel free to forward this to other interested individuals and organizations, as we’re hoping to generate a large list of those who stand in solidarity with the values of suicide prevention: Statement of Solidarity in Observance of Suicide Prevention Month Affirming the Importance to People with Disabilities of Access to Services, Real Choices, and Self-Determination September is suicide prevention month, and during its observance, we, the undersigned, express our sincere sorrow that any human ever experiences a level of despair or hopelessness that results in a choice to end one’s own life. The concern of the disability, military and veterans, and aging...

Do Women ‘Regret’ Abortions? New Study Helps End Debate… Really? [Comment: Ironically, the APA (American Psychological Association) which states that “Most adult women who terminate a pregnancy do not experience mental health problems” (see Abortion and Mental Health, online at: http://alranz.org/documents/AbortionandmentalhealthAmericanPsychologistDec2009.pdf) does acknowledge the emotional trauma of miscarriage. See: “Miscarriage and loss: Losing a pregnancy can affect a woman — and her family — for years, research finds”, online at http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/06/miscarriage.aspx. And the American Psychiatric Association which denies post-abortion trauma has a paper that states that “A miscarriage, or spontaneous abortion, is a psychologically challenging event” (See “Grief Following Miscarriage: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature”, online at http://www.apsfa.org/docs/Grief%20Following%20Miscarriage%20A%20Comprehensive %20Review%20of%20the%20Literature.pdf But we are supposed to believe that women (and men) find that losing a baby by miscarriage is emotionally traumatic but aborting that same baby is not emotionally traumatic? Really?? N. Valko RN] Do Women ‘Regret’ Abortions? New Study Helps End Debate “We find that the negative emotions experienced at the time of the abortion wane/decrease significantly over 3 years afterwards. Notably, relief remains the most common emotion.” (Photo: Getty Images) New research has found that more than 95 percent of women who have received an abortion have no regret about it, feeling that their decision was the right thing for them. Researchers found no difference in mental health outcomes between women who had first-trimester abortions and late-term abortions. Thirty-five states currently require some form of mandatory counseling for a woman before an abortion can be performed, seven of which require a woman be told of possible psychological responses to abortion, stressing negative emotional responses such as “postabortion traumatic...

Women regret abortion and so do many of the men who love them but sometimes women have abortions without consulting with the child’s father. This may be because they believe they aren’t ready to be parents, are afraid the father will reject them or because they’re in an abusive relationship. The point is, regardless of reason, a life is taken without the other person’s knowledge or consent. In a recent post on Reddit, a user known as silenced0213, apologizes to the father of her baby after choosing abortion. She writes, “To the father of the baby I aborted, I’m sorry that I didn’t include you in my decision. I should have and I regret it to this day. Telling you crossed my mind. Everyday… it still does. But in my way I thought that’d I’d protect you from the panic, fear, and dread that I felt. See I was scared.” Then she goes on to explain why she chose abortion without involving her boyfriend. Like many women, she admits that she was afraid that he would either agree with her decision or try to talk her out of it. She explained, “…I was also scared that you would change my mind. I was scared that you would convince me everything would work out. I was scared that you would offer your support. I was scared that you would take its side. I was scared. I convinced myself that I didn’t need to confide in you, that you had no say. I was convinced that it wouldn’t have worked, that neither of us were cut out to be parents.” She...

… And the Ongoing Cover-up Women with a history of abortion are three times more likely to suffer from bipolar disorders, according to a new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. The researchers’ findings were based on a comparison of reproductive histories of women treated for bipolar disorders with a control group of similar women without a history of bipolar disorders. They found that 42.4 percent of the women with bipolar disorders had a history of abortion compared to only 13.5 percent of the control group. There was no significant difference in pregnancy rates or use of contraceptives.[1] These findings are consistent with a 2003 record linkage study of 56,741 low income women in California that Reardon conducted with his colleagues. In that study it was found that the rate of first-time psychiatric admissions for bipolar disorders was three times higher after abortion compared to childbirth during the four years following the pregnancy.[2] Unfortunately, additional research into the link between abortion and bipolar disorders is often obstructed by ideological considerations. For example, a 2012 recent record linkage study of 120,378 Danish women examining risk of bipolar disorders following childbirth conspicuously excluded any analyses related to bipolar disorders following other pregnancy outcomes, specifically abortion or miscarriage, even though this data was available to the researchers.[3] Indeed, when [the author] pointed this omission out in a letter published by the journal and asked for publication of the results of bipolar disorders associated with abortion, the lead author, Trine Munk-Olsen, simply refused the request. Burying the Truth Why would she refuse? There are only a few possibilities. First, she may...

Last week we reported on a deeply flawed study using the “Turnaway Study” that is being used to claim that most women have no regrets after an abortion. Dr. Priscilla Coleman, of Bowling Green State University and director of WECARE, has also published her own criticism which is reprinted below. The PLoS ONE study titled “Decision Rightness and Emotional Responses to Abortion in the United States: A Longitudinal Study,” is riddled with serious design flaws that render the results meaningless. The problematic issues are described in detail below, followed by evidence that the true motivation for publishing the study is likely political. In recent years, credible science has informed policy with 26 states now requiring information regarding mental health effects be shared with women considering abortion. This study is a poor attempt to provide counter “evidence” and obscure the reality of women’s suffering, reminiscent of the highly flawed research from the 1970s and 80s. Methodological Issues 1) As reported by the authors, the consent to participate rate is only 37.5 percent. This is unacceptable, as the missing 62.5 percent who were approached and declined were likely the women who had the most adverse psychological reactions to their abortions. With sensitive topic research, securing a high initial consent rate is vitally important, and in order to approach being representative, a minimum of 70 percent should be retained. 2) The authors note that the sample was comprised of a high concentration of women from low socioeconomic backgrounds, rendering the sample not representative of US women undergoing abortion today. There is an ethical concern here as a well, since providing $350 to...

Research Says Teens Face More Mental Health Risks, Even When Pregnancy Is Unplanned Are teens who abort better off than teens who carry an unplanned pregnancy to term? Not according to a study published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. The study found that adolescent girls who abort unintended pregnancies are five times more likely to seek subsequent help for psychological and emotional problems compared to their peers who carry “unwanted” pregnancies to term.1 Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a research psychologist at Bowling Green State University, also found that adolescents who had abortions were over three times more likely to report subsequent trouble sleeping and nine times more likely to report subsequent marijuana use. The results were compiled after examining 17 other control variables, like prior mental health history and family factors, that might also influence subsequent mental health. The data was drawn from a federally funded longitudinal study of adolescents from throughout the U.S. who participated in two series of interviews in 1995 and 1996. About 76 percent of girls who had abortions and 80 percent of girls who gave birth were between the ages of 15 and 19 during the survey, with the remainder being younger. This study is particularly important because it examines pregnancy “wantedness,” in addition to a large number of other control variables. Over the last several years, numerous studies have conclusively linked higher rates of mental illness and behavioral problems associated with abortion compared to childbirth. But abortion advocates have generally dismissed these findings, insisting that while women who abort may fare worse than women who give birth to planned children, they may...

[Editor’s note. This appeared at Reproductive Research Audit. What follows first is RRA’s introduction to Dr. Davenport’s essay.] Reproductive Research Audit [ http://reproductiveresearchaudit.com/ ] covers studies that address the most controversial topics in reproductive health research, including the long-disputed (but recently affirmed) link between induced abortion and preterm birth, the contested link between induced abortion and breast cancer (ABC link), and the suppression of studies that suggest abortion may contribute to problems in mental health. RRA covers these topics not just in spite of widespread hostility toward researchers and suppression of these findings, but due to the fact that such persecution and censorship is contrary to standards of scientific discourse and intellectual honesty. Today RRA welcomes this guest post from Dr. Mary Davenport who not only expands upon research in these areas but offers her personal account of such censorship in the medical community. This information is even more timely in light of this most recent study that found a 2.8 fold increase in breast cancer risk in relation to induced abortion. RRA is grateful to Dr. Davenport for sharing her article which first appeared at The American Thinker. In the U.S. we are used to abortion advocates claiming that the risk of elective abortion is relatively trivial, and major medical organizations denying any link between abortion and breast cancer. Now a powerful new study from China published [in February 2014] by Yubei Huang and colleagues suggests otherwise. The article, a meta-analysis pooling 36 studies from 14 provinces in China, showed that abortion increased the risk of breast cancer by 44% with at least one abortion, and 76% with...

Abortion Review: Some Women Likely to Suffer Mental Health Problems after Abortion (AMRC, Dec 2011) [It should be noted that the AMRC is supportive of abortion, and so attempts to put this in the best light for the abortion industry.] The Review on Induced Abortion and Mental Health issued last Thursday by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in Britain found that there is no medical evidence that abortion is in the best interests of women’s mental health. The review concluded that women in certain categories are more likely to suffer mental health problems after the procedure. Commenting on the review, Dr Ruth Cullen of the Pro Life Campaign said: “The most revealing feature of the review is the fact that there is no mental health benefit to women from abortion. At a single stroke this cuts the ground from under the medical rationale for the main part of Britain’s abortion legislation. We already know abortion is never in the best interests of the unborn child. Now we know for a fact it is not in the best interests of the mother either.” However, Dr Cullen said “the way the review was presented in certain sections of the media helped create the false impression that whether a woman opted for an abortion or continued with the pregnancy it posed the same risk to her mental health. This of course is not true.” Pro-life groups have accused some in the media of trying to spin the latest findings in favour of abortion rather than highlighting the fact that the review completely undermines one of the main arguments put forward to...

2010 Study Shows Abortion-Mental Health Issues Link AAPLOG [the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists ] has drawn attention to yet another study showing a strong link between abortion and mental illness. The paper, titled ‘Associations Between Abortion, Mental Disorders, and Suicidal Behaviour in a Nationally Representative Sample’ was published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry in April 2010 and confirmed ‘a strong association between abortion and mental disorders’. As such it adds further support to the landmark meta-analysis by Priscilla Coleman which I highlighted on this blog in August which showed that abortion raises the risk of mental health problems by an average of 81%. The Canadian researchers used the National Co-morbidity Survey (NCS) replication data collected between 2001 and 2003. Key points (courtesy of AAPLOG) are: • A large nationally representative U.S. sample was examined for associations between abortion and life-time prevalence of numerous mental disorders and suicidal behaviors. • Pro-choice researchers frequently claim the associations between abortion and mental health problems in the literature are due to an unmeasured history of violence exposure being related to both the choice to abort and to mental health problems. These researchers tested this assumption by controlling for violence in all the analyses conducted. They also controlled for age, education, marital status, household income, and ethno-racial background. • The results revealed statistically significant associations between abortion history and a wide range of mental health problems after controlling for the experience of interpersonal violence and demographic variables. • When compared to women without a history of abortion, those who had an abortion had a 61% increased risk for Mood...

A List of Major Psychological Effects Associated With Abortion Requirement of Psychological Treatment: A study of the medical records of 56,741 California medicaid patients revealed that women who had abortions were 160 percent more likely than delivering women to be hospitalized for psychiatric treatment in the first 90 days following abortion or delivery. Rates of psychiatric treatment remained significantly higher for at least four years.1,3 Rate of hospitalization after abortion compared to childbirth=1.0 In a study of post-abortion patients only 8 weeks after their abortion, researchers found that 44% complained of nervous disorders, 36% had experienced sleep disturbances, 31% had regrets about their decision, and 11% had been prescribed psychotropic medicine by their family doctor. (2) A 5 year retrospective study in two Canadian provinces found significantly greater use of medical and psychiatric services among aborted women. Most significant was the finding that 25% of aborted women made visits to psychiatrists as compared to 3% of the control group. (3) Women who have had abortions are significantly more likely than others to subsequently require admission to a psychiatric hospital. At especially high risk are teenagers, separated or divorced women, and women with a history of more than one abortion. (4) Since many post-aborted women use repression as a coping mechanism, there may be a long period of denial before a woman seeks psychiatric care. These repressed feelings may cause psychosomatic illnesses and psychiatric or behavioral in other areas of her life. As a result, some counselors report that unacknowledged post-abortion distress is the causative factor in many of their female patients, even though their patients have come to them...

The excellent new Coleman study in the Brit. J Psychiatry on mental health effects of abortion can be seen at: http://www.aaplog.org/complications-of-induced-abortion/induced-abortion-and-mental-health/huge-new-study-abortion-and-mental-health-quantitative-synthesis-and-analysis-of-research-published-1995-2009/ [1 Sept 11, AAPLOG] AAPLOG, 2 September 2011, Part 2: Why is the Coleman study in the current British Journal of Psychiatry so worth your study, and worth the attention of the medical community? Several reasons: 1. This review offers the largest estimate of mental health risks associated with abortion available in the world literature. The results revealed an 81% increased risk of mental health problems after abortion. Consistent with evidence-based medicine, this information should be used by health care professionals. 2. The paper is being published in a very prestigious journal, the British Journal of Psychiatry, which is considered one of the top psychiatry journals in the world. (That alone is remarkable!.) This means the paper has been extensively scrutinized by well-respected scientists. (This is not a conservative blog journal) 3. This meta-analysis is based on 22 published studies, from 6 countries, studying 36 effects, and it brings together data on 877,181 participants, 163,831 of whom experienced an abortion. That is a superb database. 4. When compared to "unintended pregnancy delivered," "pregnancy aborted" women had a 55% increased risk of experiencing any mental health problem. Separate effects were calculated based on the type of mental health outcome with the results revealing the following: the increased risk for anxiety disorders was 34%; the increased risk for depression — 37%; for alcohol use/abuse — 110%; for marijuana use/abuse — 220%; and for suicide behaviors — 155%. Clearly, abortion is a poor solution for an undesired pregnancy (and...

Study: Abortion, Depression and the Impact on Later Children As a study finds brain changes in children whose mothers were depressed, we examine the research on abortion’s impact on subsequent children. Recently, researchers at the University of Montreal found that children whose mothers were depressed had changes in their brains. From the article at MedicalXpress.com: Researchers think that brains are sensitive to the quality of child care, according to a study that was directed by Dr. Sonia Lupien and her colleagues from the University of Montreal published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists worked with ten year old children whose mothers exhibited symptoms of depression throughout their lives, and discovered that the children’s amygdala, a part of the brain linked to emotional responses, was enlarged. … “Having enlarged amygdala could be protective and increase the probability of survival,” Lupien said. The amygdala may be protective through a mechanism that produces stress hormones known as glucocorticoids. The researchers noted that the glucocorticoids levels of the children of depressed mothers who participated in this study increased significantly when they were presented with unfamiliar situations, indicating increased reactivity to stress in those children. Adults who grew up in similar circumstances as these children show higher levels of glucocorticoids and a greater glucocorticoid reaction when participating in laboratory stress tests. “What would be the long term consequences of this increased reactivity to stress is unknown at this point.” Enlarged amygdala have also been found in adopted children who were initially raised in orphanages, but not in children who were adopted early in life and by...

Key Factors in Understanding Women’s Mental Health After Abortion Dr. Shuping presented this article at a United Nations workshop in March 2011, and at the June 2011 meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Research on Values and Social Change. In 1973, as a 19-year-old undergraduate student, I worked as a volunteer at a clinic that helped women to access abortion services. I received one evening of training in which I was taught that abortion was a safe, simple procedure, and there were no side effects. I was incorrectly taught that the developing baby was nothing more than a clump of cells. After that, I was considered to be a qualified pregnancy counselor, and I helped some women to obtain abortions. Thirty-eight years later, many abortion counselors are still giving women that same misinformation. But today I know that many women have adverse psychological reactions following abortion. I have known more than one thousand post-abortive women who have been unhappy about their abortions. Much of my professional life has been spent in helping women to deal with the emotional impact of abortion… For remainder of article, visit link below. [Martha Shuping, M.D., http://www.abortionresearch.us/images/Vol23No2.pdf ...

Later Abortions Linked to Psychological Problems: Study (JP, 8/2010) A study of women who had abortions has found that women undergoing later abortions face increased psychological risks, are more likely to be ambivalent about having an abortion and are more likely to need counseling and support. The study, “Late-Term Elective Abortion and Susceptibility to Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms,” was published in the August 2010 issue of the Journal of Pregnancy. [http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10083007.html ; PharmFacts E-News Update, 13 Sept...

While this is not a peer-reviewed medical journal article, it has useful information and worthy of posting, FYI. Negative Psychological Impact of Abortion Results from 'Hard-Wiring' in Women's Brains: Scholars "Women are hard-wired for relationships—and a woman’s relationship to her baby is one of the most powerful of all, whether she realizes it or not. The hard-wiring of the brain may explain many women’s disturbing post-abortion feelings," write Evelyn Birge Vitz and Paul C. Vitz in an article published in the September 20 issue of Public Discourse. Evelyn Vitz is Professor of French and Affiliated Professor of Comparative Literature at New York University. Paul C. Vitz is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at New York University and Senior Scholar at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences. In the article the authors relate spending a semester with students studying the stories of women who shared their experiences after an abortion. The authors found that "many of these women are in acute pain; some are almost totally incapacitated" by their post-abortion feelings. "What is particularly striking is that most of the women who have these powerful emotional reactions to their abortion are stunned by them. They were not opposed to abortion; many were actively pro-choice. They were blind-sided by their own reaction. One woman lamented—and thousands of others echo her mystified anguish—‘If this was the right decision, why do I feel so terrible?’” Noting that "this disturbing phenomenon is so widespread, and found among women from varied backgrounds and different parts of the world," the authors postulate that "it seems likely that the brain itself—in particular, the nature of women’s brains—may...

Find at end: Distress After Abortion, British Journal of Psychology, 2009 Study Finds Later Abortions Linked to Mental Health Risks, Women Pressured A new study finds the later a woman has an abortion the more likely it is that she faces mental health risks and is under pressure from a partner or others to have an abortion she may not otherwise want. Women getting later abortions also are more likely to be ambivalent about having an abortion. The results came from an online survey of 374 women who answered a detailed questionnaire about the circumstances leading to their abortions, their previous mental health history, history of physical or sexual abuse and emotional state following abortion. Although small, the study, published in the Journal of Pregnancy by Dr. Priscilla Coleman of Bowling Green State University, is the first to compare the experiences of women having early abortions compared to women having later abortions (in the second or third trimester). The study found women after 13 weeks of pregnancy were more likely to report that their partner desired the pregnancy (22.4 percent of women who had later abortions vs. 10.3 percent of women who had early abortions) and that they were pressured by someone other than their partner to abort (47.8 percent vs. 30.5 percent). The women having later abortions were more likely to report that their partner didn't know about the abortion (23.9 percent vs. 12.5 percent), that they had left their partner before the abortion (28.3 percent vs. 15.6 percent) and that physical health concerns were a factor in having the abortion (29.8 percent vs. 14.7 percent). Ambivalence...

Women Who Have Abortions Four Times More Likely to Abuse Drugs, Alcohol A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Manitoba finds women who have had abortions are about four times more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol as those who carried their pregnancy to term. The authors confirmed a link between abortion and the substance abuse issues. Natalie Mota, a PhD student in the U of M's clinical psychology department, co-wrote the study with authors Margaret Burnett and Jitender Sareen. The study appeared in the April 2010 issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry and it showed women having abortions were 3.8 times more likely to have substance abuse disorders. That was the case even when other factors such as exposure to violence were included that could have raised the risk outside of abortion. The Canadian study also found abortion associated with other mental health conditions such as mood disorders, but substance abuse proved to be the strongest link when it comes to post-abortion problems for women. "These are associations only," Mota told the Toronto Sun newspaper. "Further research needs to look at the different factors that might be playing a part." Still, the study provides more evidence that abortions hurt women as Mota told the newspaper hers was larger than many prior studies showing adverse mental health issues for women following an abortion compared with keeping the baby. Mota and her colleagues told the Sun they also suggest abortion centers pre-screen women for substance abuse problems prior to abortions. Women who already have struggles with drug and alcohol abuse may see those problems exacerbated by...

These are older studies, but that is exactly why they are being added: to show that abortion research has been going on — and ignored — for decades… One of the best kept secrets in the abortion industry is the significant increase in suicide in the one year following the abortion. In MN, teens attempted suicide rate was 10 times higher than their control peers in the 6 months after an abortion. Below is a synopsis of the 2 articles showing this information: Reference: Garfinkle, B., et. al., "Stress, Depression, and Suicide: A study of Adolescents in Minnesota" (Minneapolis: Univ Minnesota Extension Service, 1986): Teens are generally at a higher risk for both suicide and abortion. In a survey of teenaged girls, researchers at U of MN found that the rate of attempted suicide in the six months prior to the study increased 10 fold – from 0.4% for girls who had not aborted to 4% for teens who had aborted in the previous six months. Reference: Morgan, C., et. al., "Mental health may deteriorate as a direct effect of induced abortion," letter section, Brit. Med. Journal 314:902, 22 Mar 97: Researchers at South Glomorgan Health Authority in Great Britain found that after abortions, there were 8.9 suicide attempts per 1000, compared to 1.9 suicide attempts per 1000 among those who gave birth, a RR of...

Study Linking Poor Pre-Abortion Counseling and PTSD Shows Need for New Legislation: Research Finds Poor Counseling Predicts Post-Abortion Psychological Problems A new study has found that poor counseling before abortion is more likely to be followed by symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological problems.1 The results from an online survey of women and men who had been involved in a past abortion, published in the journal Traumatology, showed that inadequate counseling and disagreement between the partners about having the abortion were predictors for psychological and relationship problems. For women, inadequate counseling was linked to relationship problems, psychological problems such as hyperarousal, intrusion or avoidance behaviors; and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Men, on the other hand, were more likely to experience relationship problems and symptoms of intrusion and avoidance after inadequate pre-abortion counseling. For both women and men, disagreement about the abortion decision meant they were more likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD or to experience some PTSD symptoms. Overall, 54 percent of the women and 43 percent of the men reported all the symptoms for a clinical diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. Approximately 80 percent of women and 77 percent of men had at least one symptom of PTSD, and nearly 80 percent of women and 60 percent of men reported that the abortion experience was highly or overwhelmingly stressful. The authors noted that the stress surrounding an unplanned or crisis pregnancy tends to lead to psychological vulnerability. "The emotional strain and crisis and the lack of effectiveness of one's usual coping mechanisms may result in anxiety and an inability to function," they wrote. "…...